This disclosure relates to a docking station for wireless communication devices and, more particularly, to technology for enhancing the capabilities of wireless communications devices, such cellular of PCT telephones, so as to more closely approach the capabilities of personal computers, especially as those capabilities relate to enablement of Internet access or access to other sources of data or information.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates a docking station for wireless communication devices and, more particularly, to technology for enhancing the capabilities of wireless communications devices, such cellular or PCS telephones, so as to more closely approach the capabilities of personal computers, especially as those capabilities relate to enablement of Internet access or access to other sources of data or information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The personal computer (PC) industry is experiencing a change in the manner in which PCs are used. During earlier stages in the rise of PC popularity, PCs were primarily looked to for their computational capacity. Subsequently, word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation applications began to assume the forefront. Still more recently, the PC has come to be seen as a communications device, and has experienced rapidly expanding use as a communications terminal from which to send and receive electronic messages. Along these lines, consumer acquisitions of PC's have lately been stimulated by the objective of using the PC simply as an appliance to access the Internet. In this mode, much of the embedded capability of the PC lies dormant, and PC users tend to become preoccupied with information transmission bandwidth, rather than processing power or expandability.
Concurrently, the proliferation of wireless communications devices, such as cellular telephones, has accelerated to the point that cellular telephones appear ubiquitous and are predicted by some to ultimately displace wired communications facilities. In fact, cellular telephone sales now exceed sales of PCs by a margin of approximately 2 to 1, and it is anticipated that this margin will expand.
As technology has evolved, cellular functionality has become correspondingly more robust, and cellular phones now offer capabilities that were once the exclusive province of PCs. In fact, some cellular telephones now resemble small, low-end PCs with wireless access to data networks, including the Internet. Computers for organizing telephone numbers and appointments are referred to as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). PDAs are also available with wireless access to the Internet. Ironically, many consumers are now believed to acquire cellular telephones and other wireless communication devices merely as an Internet-access appliance.
Cellular telephones, hand-held computers, PDAs and other wireless communication devices are burdened by a number of characteristics that render them substantially less than ideal for applications such as Internet access. Perhaps paramount among the shortcomings of wireless communication devices and cellular telephones is the incommodious user interface they present. Specifically, cellular telephones are often slow to access information from the Internet.
The Internet is a collection of interconnected computers providing access to hundreds of millions of documents. These documents are written in HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. HTML supports hypertext which allows a user to create a link in a Web page that allows the user to conveniently connect to another Web page. Connecting to a Web page on a desktop or portable computer allows a user to view or download the web page. Many users also user and Internet connection to support access to email which quickly sends and receives text messages and attachments.
Unlike desktop or portable computers, present-day cellular telephones fail to include keyboards and printers. Also the display on a wireless communication device is often much smaller than a display used with a conventional desktop or portable computer. The smaller display and lack of other user interfaces renders cellular telephones and other wireless communications devices unsuitable as an interface to all but the most primitive sources of information from the Internet.
Co-pending U.S. Patent pplication Ser. No. 09,769,943, titled “Portable Cell Phone Docking System” filed on Jan. 26, 2001 on behalf of the same inventors, and assigned to the same assignee as this application (and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) teaches a docking system that enables cellular telephones to operate as a convenient device for enabling the computing power available in a cellular telephone without compromising the utility of the cellular telephone as a portable communication device. But the pending application does not teach a signal operative to determine the format of a data stream in the wireless communication device. What is needed is a solution which enhances existing wireless communication device capabilities by utilizing capabilities and features available in the docking station when the cellular telephone is docked. Preferably the solution will promote the cellular telephone as a viable alternate to low-end PCs that are primarily acquired for use as Internet-access terminals.